The Cumberland County 911 Addressing Department currently staffs three full time personnel. Their duties include assigning new Addresses and Road Names, and maintaining the database of all structures in Cumberland County. All this information is maintained in a file known as the Master Street Address Guide (MSAG). They coordinate all addressing changes, via the MSAG, with all local telephone providers. They also perform all of the Global Positioning (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS, Electronic Mapping) functions associated with the 911/Dispatch environment.

How does 911 come up with the numbers they use?

Our Addressing Scheme is based upon distance. Each 1/1000th of a mile (5.28 feet) is a potential address. We normally start at the beginning of the road (the intersection closest to the center of the County), and using a Distance Measurement Indicator (DMI), measure the distance to the center of the driveway of the structure for which we're assigning an address. The resulting number is the address. We deviate only slightly to designate addresses on the left or right side of the street. Odd addresses are always on the left, with even on the right.

For instance, if you live at 1525 Nowhere Lane, you live a little over one and one-half miles down the road on the left hand side.

This method of addressing is invaluable for our Emergency Responders. As soon as our Dispatchers give them the address, they know exactly how far
down the road the house actually is, and on which side of the road.

Why do I have to stake out my driveway or have a permanent driveway before you'll assign an address?

As we stated above, the driveway is the key point of the address. It's the only part of the residence that intersects the road, and therefore our only reference point on which to build the address. Driveways are key to the whole operation. Many times we will measure from another know good driveway to the new one (add the address of the first driveway to the distance to the next). If you change your driveway's location significantly (more than a few feet), you're not only changing your address, you could be changing the address of present or future neighbors down the road from you!

Why do I have to notify the Phone Company if my address changes?

Even though we maintain a database of all structures in the County, we cannot keep up with changes in telephone numbers, people moving, etc. The obvious choice for that function is the Telephone Company (TelCo). If you need to call 911, it will be from a telephone. Only the phone folks have an up to date database of all telephone numbers and the addresses for them. We provide the MSAG to the phone companies to use as a reference (that's how they know if you've got a valid 911 address).

We receive updates daily from the TelCos in our area. They recheck the addresses anytime there is any action on the bill, and transmit any changes to our computers in the Addressing Office.

Bottom line here is, if the telephone company doesn't know where you live, neither will that ambulance or fire truck responding to the call from your house!